“Misirlou” is one of the hardest songs to be found on Guitar Hero II, the second installation in the popular guitar playing series. The game, if you’re not familiar with it, has players strumming along on a plastic guitar to on-screen notes that they must match. Sound easy enough? It’s not, as the speed picks up very, very quickly.

“Misirlou” is especially bad. The game likes to pick up the tempo very quickly and hit you with dozens of notes before you’re even prepared to play one. It can prove very frustrating - but, once mastered, very, very impressive.

Mastery takes a long time, though. Check out the video below to see just how hard “Misirlou” is on the highest difficulty level.

The legendary surf rock artist has managed to do what few musical artists do when it comes to commercials: not only has he retained the rights to a song he allowed to sound in a commercial, he also APPEARED in the commercial himself. In this case it’s a Nissan commercial that has a bunch of surfers heading down to the beach in a Nissan in total silence.

Then, just as they’re all lined up to head into the surf, Dick Dale steps out of the Nissan - and starts playing the iconic Misirlou. They even have a shot of his name on his guitar.

It’s surprisingly badass, for a commercial. Check it out below.

“Pipeline” has since been re-recorded by a number of bands and artists, including Johnny Thunders, Agent Orange, The Challengers and Anthrax. But the best-known version of the surf song is still probably that done by Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as it received a Grammy nomination.

“Pipeline” continues today to be a standard in surf rock music (though, admittedly, the very end of the music video - provided below - is a bit weird, with a surfer taking to the skies across the front of the stage for no reason whatsoever).

The most important of these songs are probably “Surf Beat” and “Let’s Go Trippin’”. Both purely instrumental, they’ve since become synonymous with surfing in general and are unmistakable to anybody who’s even so much as watched a surfing video.

Surfer’s Choice was long out of print though it was recently re-released by Sundaze Records in 2006. The new CD reprint includes the following songs:

Surf Beat
Sloop John B
Take It Off
Night Owl
Fanny Mae
Misirlou Twist
Peppermint Man
Surfing Drums
Shake ‘n’ Stomp
Lovey Dovey
Death of a Gremmie
Let’s Go Trippin’
Del-Tone Rock
Jungle Fever
Misirlou
Eight Till’ Midnight
Lovin’ On My Brain
A Run For Life

The title means “let us rejoice”, and the song has long been a staple at Jewish festivals and weddings. Dale’s surf-rock version of ‘Hava Nagila’ was included on his King of the Surf Guitar album, released by Capitol Records in 1963.

He is primarily known for introducing the use of guitar reverb to give the guitar a “wet” sound, a staple of surf music. 1961’s ‘Let’s Go Trippin’ is often considered to be the first surf rock song. Dale’s first full-length album was 1962’s Surfers’ Choice, and he became known as “King of the Surf Guitar”.

He introduced the use of guitar reverb often used in surf music, and also excelled at fast staccato picking. He was lefthanded but played a righthanded guitar without restringing it, effectively playing it upside down. He used extremely heavy gauge string sets, and often pushed the limits of his equipment.

He also made use of custom-made Fender amplifiers, including the first ever 100-watt amp. Dale is also associated with the Fender Stratocaster guitar and his signature model, the Dick Dale Custom Shop Stratocaster. As of 2008, Dale continues to play with his original reverb unit and Showman amps from the early 1960s.

Dale and the Del-Tones were extremely popular in the Huntington Beach area of Southern California, often playing sold-out shows in the early 1960s. They also appeared in several popular beach party teen flicks during this time period. In 1965, Dale disbanded the group and briefly retired, but in 1970 reformed the Del-Tones, and they continued to perform occasionally in Southern California for a number of years.

From his first performances at the famous Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California to the high tech world of Hollywood movie making, Dick Dale has never lost the passion for music that is evident in every note he plays. When Dale met Tarantino, Tarantino told him, “I am one of your biggest fans, Misirlou is a masterpiece.” Tarantino went on to say, “I would love to have your permission to make a movie that will complement the master piece of Misirlou.”

Dale states that after he saw Reservoir Dogs he knew that Tarantino was “No Bullshitter.”
Pulp Fiction made its debut in October of 1994. It was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture.
Dick Dale is still very active in the music industry and recently released works which include “Tribal Thunder” and “Unknown Territory.”

In a recent interview with another reporter he was quoted as saying; “You shouldn’t even be writing this story if you haven’t heard me play live. You can’t write with the passion you receive until you see a Dick Dale concert.”

Back in the early 1960’s Dick Dale and the Del Tones had a huge following in Southern California. Dale says he used to pay the Beach Boys $50.00 a show to open for him and his Del Tones. Dick Dale was known as the “King of Surf Guitar,” a title that was bestowed on him after his release of “Let’s Go Trippin’” in 1961. While groups like Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys were singing ice cream and candy songs about cars and girls in Bikinis, Dale’s music was, and still is driving rhythms all about anger, patience and frustration. Some of his recent releases include “Tribal Thunder” and “Unknown Territory.”

Disk Dale playing Misirlou in 1996: